Within this project, I showcase a selection of my design work crafted during my tenure as a designer at Powershop. Working with Powershop has been an exhilarating experience, thanks to the company's dynamic ethos that encourages creativity and innovation. Over the years, Powershop has pioneered a series of captivating, newsworthy, and sometimes provocative campaigns, and I am thrilled to contribute to their ongoing journey.
Powershop distinguishes itself from traditional power companies by empowering customers to actively manage their energy consumption. The brand provides a unique platform where customers can shop for their power, offering flexibility, valuable insights, and the freedom to control their energy bills. Customers can even purchase power packs to optimise their energy expenses.
Below, you'll find examples of Powershop Specials that I have conceptualised and designed. A "Special" is a limited-time offer allowing customers to acquire power at a discounted rate in the shop. These specials are not only exciting to work on but are also thematically aligned with current, newsworthy events or specific times of the year, such as Halloween or Boxing Day.
Special themes:
Halloween, Cyber Week, Boxing Day sales. These designs were created on Illustrator and Procreate (iPad).
Special themes:
Crew Special, Valentines Day, Easter Friday. These designs were created on Illustrator and Procreate (iPad).
I began experimenting with GIFs and small animations to make our Powershop Specials more interactive and engaging. This approach brought a dynamic element to our offerings, capturing customers' attention and making the experience more enjoyable.
Special Themes:
Premiere of "Jaws": Created thematic visuals to celebrate the re-release of this iconic movie in cinemas.
Bad Motel Experiences: Designed a special based on New Zealand's worst motel to encourage user-generated content on social media.
Bad Motel Experiences: Designed a special based on New Zealand's worst motel to encourage user-generated content on social media.
Release of "Alice in Wonderland": Developed whimsical and enchanting designs to coincide with the movie's release.
Concurrent Premieres of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer": Created unique, eye-catching designs for this special event where both movies premiered on the same day in cinemas.
These themed specials were not only topical and timely but also aimed at generating excitement and engagement among our customers. By incorporating animations and GIFs, I added an interactive layer to the specials, enhancing their appeal and making them stand out in the competitive energy market.
Special themes:
Fat Bear Week, Gingers (topical Special), Pickle Day and Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Special themes:
Going on Holiday and Coming Back to Sad Plants, Escaped Christmas Ham, Ding-a-Ling Day, and Chinese New Year (Year of the Dragon).
Going on Holiday and Coming Back to Sad Plants, Escaped Christmas Ham, Ding-a-Ling Day, and Chinese New Year (Year of the Dragon).
Special themes:
World Burger Day, ANZAC Day (generated using AI and edited in Photoshop), the Paws-In Challenge (a viral TikTok sensation where pet parents put their hands in to see if their pets join in), and World Meditation Day.
World Burger Day, ANZAC Day (generated using AI and edited in Photoshop), the Paws-In Challenge (a viral TikTok sensation where pet parents put their hands in to see if their pets join in), and World Meditation Day.
Powershop T-shirt concept for World Meditation Day.
Switch your mates (SYM) - July campaign
At Powershop, we believe in rewarding our customers for spreading the word. Our "Switch Your Mates" (SYM) credit exemplifies this belief, offering incentives for convincing friends to join the Powershop family. This unique offer undergoes a refreshing transformation every few months, providing the team and me with the opportunity to unleash our creativity through fresh designs.
During a recent period from June to August, coinciding with our winter campaign, I took on the challenge of aligning the SYM designs with the overarching theme. This winter initiative featured a captivating blend of pixel art and a nostalgic 90s aesthetic. The pixel theme served as the cornerstone for all our designs throughout the winter campaign, and the SYM creations were no exception. The playful homage to this vibrant visual identity allowed us to engage customers with a fresh and nostalgic twist.
By incorporating these design elements, we maintained a cohesive visual identity across all campaign materials, enhancing the overall impact and appeal of our SYM offer. This project allowed me to blend creativity with strategic design, ensuring our promotions were both visually striking and aligned with our brand's innovative ethos.
Switch your mates (SYM) - Halloween (October)
I had the thrilling opportunity to lead all Halloween-related content at Powershop, a task that included developing a new "Switch Your Mates" (SYM) campaign alongside corresponding social media posts. This project was particularly enjoyable due to the creative freedom I was given, and with Halloween holding a special place in my heart, it was an especially exciting assignment.
As part of the Halloween extravaganza, the team proposed bringing back an older campaign, "Kill Your Bill," using SYM to reintroduce it. The concept revolved around resurrecting an old monster, and I drew inspiration from eerie realms to envision the Ouija board as the perfect medium. The design featured two spooky hands, symbolizing the campaign’s focus on you and your mates, with the board strategically resting on the letter "K," hinting that something ominous was on the horizon.
This creative approach not only revived a beloved campaign with a fresh twist but also allowed me to explore my passion for Halloween-themed design. The result was an engaging and visually striking campaign that resonated with customers and captured the spirit of the season.
Halloween Social Images
As the maestro behind Powershop's Halloween content, my task extended beyond campaigns to crafting a series of enchanting social media posts designed to captivate and engage our audience. Given the creative reins and fuelled by my love for cats, I turned these feline companions into the central characters of this spooky saga.
The inaugural post set the stage for Friday the 13th, featuring the iconic Jason mask intertwined with a Halloween pumpkin, creating an eerily glitched effect. This post not only paid homage to the superstition of "never let a black cat cross your path" but also served as a forewarning of the impending Halloween festivities.
The second post was an interactive exploration of Halloween costume inspiration. We invited our customers to share their current and past costume endeavours, with the promise of free power for the most outstanding entry. The response was overwhelming, showcasing the vibrant creativity within our community.
For the third post, our black cat character took an unexpected turn, commandeering a KAT digger. The winning costume, a customer dressed as a digger, elicited laughter and applause for its ingenious and hilarious interpretation. Illustrating these moments of whimsy added an extra layer of enjoyment to the project.
It seems that anytime I'm at the helm of a creative venture, cats inevitably find their way into the narrative, infusing a touch of playful charm into the storytelling. These posts not only engaged our audience but also added a fun and interactive element to our Halloween campaign, demonstrating the power of creative storytelling in connecting with our community.
Powershop Solar Campaign
Assigned with the task of devising a campaign centred around Powershop's solar offering and its impressive buy-back rate, among the most competitive in the market at the time, I embraced the creative challenge with enthusiasm.
To kick off the creative process, I presented three distinct concepts to the broader marketing team. The selected concept, dubbed "Lit Lizard," draws inspiration from the reliance of reptiles on sunlight for survival. Leveraging the quirky charm of a sun-dependent, distinctly Kiwi character, Lit Lizard brings a unique perspective to connect with our audience.
This character exudes personality, adheres to sun-safe practices, and aligns seamlessly with the brand's identity—steering clear of the corporate stereotypes associated with other power companies. By using Lit Lizard, we created a campaign that not only highlighted Powershop's competitive buy-back rate but also engaged customers with a fun, relatable character that stood out in the market.
The "Lit Lizard" campaign successfully combined creativity and strategic messaging, making it a memorable and effective promotion for Powershop's solar offering. This campaign contributed to the target of gaining 10,000 solar ICPs, a number that continues to grow.
The Powershop side of the campaign contributed 2,242 ICPs to this target.
What’s Watt Blog Posts
These vector-style illustrations were created for the “What’s Watt” section of the Powershop website, which aims to educate customers about important power-related topics. Each themed illustration was a joy to conceptualize and draw. Topics covered include “5 Cool Ways Solar is Being Used Around the World” and “Comparing Different Power Generation Methods in New Zealand,” among others.
Portrait for a leaving gift for a staff member in the Powershop team. Drawn on Illustrator.
Powershop Telsa wrap concepts
This project, still in refinement and in the conceptual stage, involves designing a vehicle wrap for a Tesla. It has been an intriguing and exciting project to work on due to the unique challenges and opportunities presented by vehicle wraps.
The goal was to encapsulate the bold attitude of Powershop while prominently featuring the brand's iconic pink colors. The design aims to create a visually striking and memorable wrap that captures the essence of Powershop’s innovative and dynamic spirit.
Working on this project has been a great opportunity to push creative boundaries and explore how to represent the brand in a new and impactful way.
As part of a winter campaign, I created pixel illustrations that brought a fresh and different style to the project. Working in this minimalistic format was enjoyable, allowing me to craft items with a simple yet effective design approach. It was a fun challenge to convey detail and creativity within the constraints of pixel art.